


We'll be a dream

by jstrattford



Series: Recollection of memories [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-18
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-09 18:38:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4360001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jstrattford/pseuds/jstrattford
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“But do you think so? Do you think you’ve found your soulmate?” Harry’s voice breaks through the impeding silence that it takes Niall a moment to realize that he’s asking him a question.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I mean, do you think you’ll find them? You know, since you seem to think that it’s real,” he says casually. It’s meant to be in a teasing nature but there’s a slight strain in Harry’s voice, trying to keep himself steady.</p><p>Or: the one about Niall finding his soulmate</p>
            </blockquote>





	We'll be a dream

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [tumblr](http://arie-172.tumblr.com/), if you'd like to say hi. Also, originally posted [here](http://arie-172.tumblr.com/post/123071325262/pairing-niall-harry-w-c-2-2-k-more-its).

It’s the loud and excessive engine noises that disrupt Niall’s sleeping that day.

Grumpily and slowly, he gets out of bed – just like any other day – beginning his daily rituals like he always does. Like today will be the exact same thing as yesterday.

Except, it’s _not_.

Niall makes the conscious effort to still back the groans hanging at the back of his throat, but it’s laborious when they’re inching their way forward as soon as he catches sight of the loads of moving trucks surrounding the neighborhood – quite the unusual spectacle because they haven’t had a new neighbor in years.

Mullingar’s population gravitated on the low end, so seeing people - _new people_ \- move in always called for taking a double-take. Who could ever think that it’d be a brilliant idea to move in (and on a Saturday out of all days)?

And then there was the question of why they would even want to move there too. Niall loved his home (of course), but even he knew how unlikely a destination this was for people.

But, despite the anger residing in his chest there was a slight amount of intrigue propelling him to keep watching, examining from up his window the way the packages came out one by one, as he caught sight of a woman patting the backs of her two kids. It was probably meant to be encouraging but even from where Niall was watching he could tell it was having the opposite effect, because the guy had his lips pursed together, making it look like he very much didn’t want to be there. He swatted her hand away with the same stoniness that masked his face, refusing to break a smile like the girl next to him had done.

Niall shook his head with pity, noticing how unhappily the guy stood. How he would mechanically nod to everything or shrug, not once uttering a word, but no one questioned it because his body was stiff with tension. But, that was nothing compared to when he saw Louis.

From what Niall could see Louis startled the guy, moving into his personal place like they were close friends, when it was clear that each step the guy took back was intentional, but that was one of the things about Louis. He didn’t seem to know about boundaries – a fact Niall knew well enough – just like discretion, because at that moment he looked up and waved widely at Niall, loudly calling out his name as if it wasn’t 9 in the morning and as the rest of his neighbors _weren’t_ asleep.

“Niall!” Louis waved cheerfully, drawing the attention from the guy too, tilting a brow in a confused but just as easily amused manner, the corners of his lips giving into a faint smile, the first one that Niall had seen, and one that Niall decided was a lot nicer than the previous pout adorning his face.

But, it was the way he smiled at Niall that surprised him, failing to wave back with as much force and half grumbling when he did, drawing back into the comfort of his room.

His thoughts that day, he couldn’t say. It was hard to when he could feel the power of his breaths clogging his mind, chaining him to that memory he wanted to but couldn’t quite easily forget.

*

Niall likes to pretend that what he’s doing is just mere observation. That he doesn’t need a reason to read a book outside on his porch just because he knows that his neighbor, the guy with the curly hair, likes to go out for morning runs every day, 8:00am sharp.

The guy looks over at him every time too, not quite acknowledging his presence but also not ignoring it either.

That is, until one day the familiar cycle is broken.

Niall’s sitting out front when he hears the guy coming back from his run, already struggling with rereading the same part over and over when a loud cough breaks his thoughts easily because he knows he’s being watched. And sure enough,  _he is_ , the heat of his own breath taking him by surprise.

“So….” The guy starts out, making his way over to Niall slowly. “How long are you going to keep watching me?” the guys asks, and although he’s being very blunt in his questioning, his tone is light and casual, like he’s curious more than anything else.

“I wasn’t?” Niall says but it comes off like a question, sounding confused, but it’s better than getting caught. The guy shrugs it off though, a tiny hint of a smile visible through his dimples.

“It’s fine. I could use the friends,” he says, but from the way it comes out it seems like he’s asking Niall if this is okay. If it’s okay to ask and get the confirmation that perhaps Niall would like to be his.

Niall resists the urge to chuckle. “Yeah…I…” Niall scratches at the back of his neck. “Niall,” he says when he figures that that’s all he’ll be able to say without it sounding inappropriate, managing something that feels like a friendly smile hanging at his lips.

The guy smiles then, _really smiles_ , and Niall thinks that this he should do that more often. Smile, that is.

“Harry,” says Harry, as the smile on Niall’s face falters.

 _Harry_.

The name naturally causes Niall to lift a brow in questioning at him.

Niall tries not to look too much into it, though. So he had the same first name of his supposed soulmate. A lot of people did. Harry was a common name, Niall was aware. There was no need to look more into it.

So he doesn’t, adding, “nice name.”

And maybe that’s all they need to start up a conversation, because soon enough the ice is broken.

*

“Mullingar’s cold,” Harry complains, sitting next to Niall in front of Niall’s porch, coughing out loudly as if to get his point across, despite the warmth his body is radiating.

Niall rolls his eyes. “It’s good weather,” he laughs, amused. “You’ve been here a month, you should be used to it.”

“It’s colder than home,” Harry complains, and Niall notices that although he’s been living there for about a month, Mullingar isn’t what he considers home because he still refers to it as just Mullingar and not "home". At least, not _yet_.

Niall tugs at the sleeves of his shirt, covering the bare skin that’s showered with goosebumps.

“Where did you grow up in?” Niall asks after a moment, breathing raggedly through the cold air.

“Holmes Chapel,” Harry says, not missing a beat. There’s a large amount of pride in the way he says it, but it doesn’t suppress the sea of laughter that makes it way smoothly out of Niall’s mouth.

“And you’re complaining about the cold?” Niall’s laughs, shaking his head in amusement at the audacity of Harry’s previous statement.

Harry frowns at that. “But I don’t like cold. I like warmth.”

“Human contact always works for that,” Niall lulls out through shallow breath, shrugging.

“I’ve been trying but keep falling short,” Harry says, voice so low that it causes Niall to take a second glance at him, freezing when they lock eyes. There’s something there – something that isn’t easy to place – that it makes Niall look down, stupidly verging on inhibition.

It hasn’t been the first time Harry’s said something like that, but each time Niall swears he hears something different in his voice. Something much more honest, and the strength in Harry’s eyes and how they gaze into Niall tell him that it’s more than just a friendly banter. That the look that they’ve just exchanged is more than just about the cold, and that the the palpitating feeling beginning to suffocate Niall’s chest isn’t because he forgot to wear a jumper on this breezy morning.

Niall swallows his pride, then saying, “oh, that’s…okay,” struggling to get the last part out because he’s aware of Harry’s eyes on his lips, momentarily falling there before moving back at his eyes, but with an unreadable expression. Usually Niall’s been able to detect the tiny bits of amusement shinning in Harry’s eyes, or he can see the tug of his lips, but not today. Not in the moment when he most needs it because he just doesn’t think that it’s possible to be coherent when it’s like this.

 _You’ll just know_.

And perhaps it’s true. Perhaps he might be beginning to know.

*

“Do you believe in soulmates?”

The question has been there for the past three days since that minor incident at Niall’s porch, but it’s today that he’s finally found that if there’s ever an appropriate time to bring it up, it should probably be sooner rather than later.

The question though, makes Harry sit up, quirking a brow so high up that it might hit his hairline.

“Um, no?” Harry mumbles, sounding confused but listening closely as if he’s failed to understand something that he’s missed. “Why? Do you?” He looks over at Niall with widening eyes.

 _Do I?_ Niall thinks, debating the question in his mind. “I suppose not,” Niall says eventually, but he’s doubtful he even believes that. He’s got one after all. Or supposed to have one.

Niall takes a breath, has to push back the nervous laughter that wants to make its way out, before looking Harry in the eye, saying then, “but what about people who don’t get married because it’s never felt right? How do you explain that?”

Harry throws Niall a slightly helpless and possibly mortified look, caught off guard. “I don’t know,” Harry admits, relaxing into a shrug. “Maybe it’s just luck. Maybe some people aren’t supposed to ever find their ‘soulmate.’”

_“Soulmate."_

Niall _doesn’t_ like the sound of that.

He drums his feet to the sound of the creaking wood, letting the dirt hit the end of his shoe, not even objecting that the dirt is dusting them today because he’s got an even bigger reason for the strain near his chest.

“But do you think so? Do you think you’ve found your soulmate?” Harry’s voice breaks through the impeding silence that it takes Niall a moment to realize that he’s asking him a question.

“What?”

“I mean, do you think you’ll find them? You know, since you seem to think that it’s real,” he says casually. It’s meant to be in a teasing nature but there’s a slight strain in Harry’s voice, trying to keep himself steady.

Niall throws his head back, the movement of his feet increasing.

“I don’t know.” Niall admits. It isn’t exactly a lie either because he really doesn’t think he knows.

“Do you want to?” Harry continues, keeping his watchful eyes on Niall, like he does when he finds something that interests him.

The sound created by Niall’s tapping feet stops, bringing a hand close to his face to tuck it underneath his chin.

“Maybe one day,” Niall shrugs, but there’s a sour taste in his tongue from that statement.

 _I don’t know. I don’t know_. His doubts are the only thing he can say with complete certainty.

*

It’s a hot and humid and late in the afternoon when Harry calls Niall, voice rough and tired, asking him to help move the fridge from his basement. It doesn’t particularly sound like a fun way of spending his Sunday but Niall agrees, telling himself that it’s simply because he’s ran out of things to do, and that it’s nothing connected to Harry. That it goes far beyond that.

He’s alone when Niall get there too, Niall notices, greeting Niall happily with a, “thanks for coming,” as they make their way to the basement, labored breaths echoing through the house as they struggle with moving the machine.

Niall’s feet are hurting a bit by their 4th attempt but soon enough they make progress, carrying it up with little strain. However, it isn’t exactly smooth sailing because Niall comes to a halt when he feels a small figure rubbing themselves against his leg, almost releasing the fridge from his hands.

“Christ!” Niall groans, causing Harry to quickly but carefully drop the fridge. “What was that?” Niall replies out of breath, catching sight of a cat making its way towards Harry, as if asking to be stroked.

“You mean him?” Harry asks, petting the cat. “He’s Clark Griswold.”

And Niall doesn’t know if he should be offended by the apparent lack of emotion Harry’s having at almost making Niall drop the fridge, or if he should be laughing at the situation.

“You named your cat Clark Griswold?” Niall asks, dumbfounded.

“Why not?” Harry frowns.

“Nothing, nothing” Niall waves it off, shrugging. “I just didn’t think you had any pets.”

“We only have one,” Harry pets the cat. “They’re good stress relievers.”

“Right,” Niall snorts in disbelief, shaking his head.

He looks back at Harry to see him watching him with a brow tilted in amusement, as Niall resists the urge to walk over and join Harry’s side to pet the cat (which he’s decided he isn’t already fond of) .

“You don’t like them?”

Niall parts his lips open, considering how blunt he should be, taking a breath before admitting, “No. They’re kind of useless,” instantly grinning when he sees Harry frown harshly.

“I’ll pretend you didn’t say that,” Harry holds the cat closer to him. “They’re my favorite animal.”

 _Cat_. The black text and white envelope comes back to Niall’s mind instantly.

It’s just… _wow_. He’s really…

The color on Niall’s face rushes all the way through his body, the loud pounding sensation in his heart producing a reddening in his ears that immediately catches Harry’s eyes.

“Hey…are you okay?” Harry asks, actually sounding concerned.

The words run out and like a spark, Niall feels it jolt through his whole body.

“It’s…” he hesitates, taking a breath. “It’s always been you, hasn’t it?” he says but vocalizes the question like a statement, little doubt present in his voice.

But there still remains quite a bit on Harry’s, brows furrowing together as he tilts his head to get a better look at Niall.

“Me?” he asks, voice extremely confused but intrigued.

The words could spew out of Niall’s mouth. They want to. They really, _really_ want to, but what good what that be to someone who doesn’t believe in soulmates? So this – his silence – he decides, is for the best.

Niall laughs then, all breathy and nice, feeling the strain leave his chest, smiling freely at Harry in a way he hasn’t since he first met him.

“It’s nothing,” he simply says, enjoying the way he can find humor in this.

Harry doesn’t appreciate the response, though, whining out a “you always say that,” and groaning loudly, but Niall keeps his smile in place, shaking his head.

He figures this is something Harry can wait because after all, there was such a thing as soulmates. The thing is, now it’s Harry’s turn to figure that out.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
